Well the Covid Crisis continues…which means so does our guarentine. So sad what this virus is doing to our world. Boys, you will definitely remember this year with online school and not seeing friends for a year. We pray for a vaccine soon!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Olimb! We love you so much!

We decided while we were at the lake to let the boys have their own rooms when we got home. It was bitter sweet and the end of an era, but with a small house and quarentine going on it really was perfect timing. We converted our garage to a treatment/gaming man cave, so everyone is happy :).

Tired boy. So sweet.

Dad took the boys and Grandpa Olimb on a two day camping trip! They saw some beautiful sites, took a hike, did some star-gazing, and chopped down a tree! I’d say it was a success :).

Dad was so nice to rent us a room at a resort here in Scottsdale so we could get out of our house for a bit and let the boys enjoy the warm weather swimming. Ironically it rained that night and was a bit chilly, but that didn’t slow the boys down, and it allowed for Dad to take Asher for his first real round of golf, which Asher loved! Beck and I enjoyed the lazy river for another day :). It was a great weekend!

More family times.

I came home from a meeting and Asher had popcorn and my tea ready for me. And, used $30 of his own money to buy Beck a little Mario lamp for his new room. He’s such a sweet, thoughtful boy!

4,000 miles total and 5 more National Parks checked off our list! We started our road trip home visiting Theodore Roosevelt’s National Park which felt perfect since we’re beyond thankful for all his conservation work in protecting millions of acres of God’s beautiful land for us to enjoy! Beck’s favorite: “Theodore, because I’ve never seen a bison.”; Asher’s favorite: “Adventuring down to the bottom of Bryce Canyon.” Jeremy and I think Yellowstone is pretty hard to beat! Thankful for the gift of these memories together!

THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK

BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK

Home, here we come!

Covid. Ugh. Changing all of life…but we’re so thankful for being able to make the drive up to MN safely and being able to enjoy the lake with Grandma and Grandpa Necas. They were kind enough to have our loud crew for 5 weeks! It’s hard to describe all that happened in 5 weeks, so here’s a fun photo dump!

God was so gracious to allow us two camping weekends during the month of May. Camping up on the rim and up in the mountains is one of our favorite things to do when Summer hits the valley here. Quarentine definitely made things challenging, but we were thankful to be able to sneak away safely and let the boys run free!

We all voted this is one of our favorite sites and Beck named it, “Creekside Canyon”. We’ll be back for sure!

They set up their own tent! Man card!

Beck has notoriously not been a huge fan of us taking photos of him since he was little. This was a first. He kept walking around saying, “Mom, this is so pretty, take a picture of me here.”

It was Rocket’s first camping trip! Dad even packed him his very own sleeping bag, ha! He had so much fun! Beck said, “his wolf instincts are really kicking in!” LOL!

Us.

We were supposed to be on a beach with just us celebrating our 20th anniversary…oh well…21 years sounds nice to celebrate too :).

A couple weekends later we tried out another spot and made a lot of memories there too!

Beck and I hiked all the way to the top of this little mountain. It doesn’t look that big in this picture. This picture lies. It was hard work, and I was so proud of Beck!

We got a pretty big storm which was so fun! We cuddled up in tents and listened to the thunder for a couple of hours!

Talking to wild turkeys…also, really close wild turkeys :).

We came home to find this sign. Such a weird, hard year. Asher’s last year of elementary school. He’s been looking forward to his last year at Quartz since he started. They make a big deal about it. Have a teacher/student kickball game and bring in bahama bucks icees, paint tiles together that are plastered on the wall of the school, and walk around the whole school to high five all the staff and kiddos. He was really looking forward to it. But, so proud of his attitude and how he’s handled so much disappointment. He understands how serious covid is, and doesn’t want to take a chance. Neither do we, Buddy. Love you to the moon and back!

It was pretty nuts to login to Unitedheathcare’s website and see the boys’ plastered on their webpage :).

We snuck over to Auntie Dana’s to swim for a bit and let the boys get some exercise!

Another odd celebration for the books. Mother’s Day. Jeremy and I helped organize a drive-thru photo booth for the mamas at the church, so we pushed through the weirdness and helped serve our church. Grandma Olimb and Jeremy got a picture too which was so sweet!

We’re chugging along over here finding fun things to do and making memories during a pandemic!

We like these exit games, and solving mysteries together :).

Happy Easter! It was a bit weird and sad not being at church today and with family, but we tried to make the best out of it with our traditional Easter egg hunt + Daddy’s best ever scavenger hunt for baskets with the official Bunny Decoder glasses :).

The weather was a God send with us being stranded at home and away from people. We were outside a lot, and so thankful.

There couldn’t be a more perfect way to wrap up the month 🙂

March. The month when everyone’s lives changed. I can’t believe we lived (and are currently) living history with this Coronavirus. Just a few memories before things came crashing down.

Who knows the next time we’ll be able to go to a concert. Thankful we got to see Bon Iver one more time!

Soccer + new ninja warrior park they opened!

Our obligatory night before photo! Beck’s last night as a 7 year old!

You’re 8 years old, Beck!!! Oh my gosh. You’re such a blessing to our family!! We’re so sorry for the crummy quarentine birthday – seriously, why have you had so many doozies?!?! Anyways we tried our best with gifts and playing games, and fun at the park and lots of chocolate! We love you SOOOO much!

So many memories of us trying to figure out life in quarantine with the strike of covid, trying to figure out how to finish out school with the boys, and how to withstand by far the busiest season in communications with our church. We’ll definitely never forget this year, ha!

Part of our efforts to homeschool involved teaching the boys some life skills. Asher learned how to film and edit a few videos in Pro Presenter. We’re super proud of him, and thankful to have these keepsakes!

Jeremy organized a hiking trip for the men at our church, and Beck was his little hiking partner.

Lots of board games in our home!

We went to our first GCU basketball! What a blast! This definitely solidified Asher wanting to go to GCU :).

Random cuteness.

Jeremy and I were blessed to March on the Hill again with the Foundation! This year we were talking about the importance of NIH funding for life saving antibiotics, Medicare, and the importance of keeping protections that the ACA offers our community. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Olimb for watching the boys again so we could go!!!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Olimb!

Beck had his little friend Isaac over for a playdate. This two are peas in a pod, it’s so cute!

Asher and Carter finally got assigned a school project to work on together! They had a Saturday blast!

Beck was the star student the same week!

The boys made the UnitedHealthCare calendar!

Muffins with Mom at school!

Beck and I had a sweet little trip together to Tucson to go to the Rock & Mineral Show. We had been talking about it for months. Here he is realizing our hotel has a fun waterslide :).

First time getting room service!

Jeremy and Asher had a manly weekend with lots of pizza an board games!

Another long CF appointment. We’re so thankful we have the means to provide the boys with the care that they need!

It’s crazy to think that Asher is starting Junior High this next year! We had a tour at his new school, and loved the courtyard!

Lots of bike rides!

It’s hard to believe we’re flipping the calendar again to a new year! How do these years go so fast!

Paxon Ray. It was really sweet this year to visit Paxon’s grave and see that the Elephants Ear plant we planted last year was growing! It was a blessing from God to have a beautiful illustration of how his life continues to impact ours. His legacy lives on.

The boys made us stay inside while they prepared for a special date night for us. It was so so sweet!!! We both ordered the grilled cheese :).

We had a big milestone in our home! Asher got braces!

Another soccer game on the other side of the city = lunch out!

Lots of fun with our leaves in the backyard!

Lots of nightly walks/hover board rides :).

Church memories.

Super blessed to be able to go with Beck and chaperone his little 2nd grade friends to the Science Center!

Dad went camping, and we went painting :).

Asher sprained his ankle really bad. He was on crutches for a week, and missed a few weeks of soccer. It was such a bummer. He was such a good sport though, and went to soccer practices eventhough he couldn’t play. This moment was pretty great. We walked into Target and Asher got on one of these carts and said with the biggest smile, “Mom, I’m not going to lie, this has been on my bucket list for a long time!” Hahaha!

So proud of Asher. When he started the school year he said his goal was to get on the Principal’s list this year – all A’s for a quarter. He did it, and we celebrated :).

Random family memories this month :). Also, really proud of Dad and all he’s accomplished!

And another beautiful sunset!

Our December was pretty tearful as we spent time with and said good-bye (for now!) to our sweet Grandma Joy Joy. Our family will not be the same without her sweet presence. We will always miss her, and thank God for allowing us to get to live close to her for the last six years.

We tried to press on and find joy. The boys are great for helping with both of these :). Asher had a soccer tournament on the other side of town, so we rented a place to stay for the night and checked out the fun shopping area nearby. We took Beck to his first revolving sushi restaurant.

Asher had a little Christmas play at school!

Grandma Olimb and I took Beck to Christmas at the Princess! The resort was decorated so beautifully, and we’re pretty sure Beck felt special getting to have a special adventure!

We fought hard for joyful times this Christmas as well because the flu hit our home. Santa and the Festive Llama had to leave our Christmas party early for Beck, and Asher was all the kinds of sick over Christmas. We pressed on and made the best of it, but it was a bummer there was so much sickness going around. 

Beck was so very excited to put up our decorations this year! He brought Rocket around showing him everything, ha!

Christmas with the Olimbs! Movie time and Dinner and gifts!

I feel terrible that I don’t have any pictures from Christmas. This is the only one that we have that Jeremy took. It’s a sweet memory though that I’ll never forget. Asher used his own money to buy me the coolest Vans ever!

We love California! And, it was fun to meet Grandma and Grandpa Necas there for a few days! We stayed at a great resort with fun things for the kids to do, and we were right on the beach! We had a wonderful time! The only bummer was we were all recovering from the flu, including Grandma Necas…and Asher still really had the flu, so he wasn’t feeling super great. Thankfully though we all pushed through the sour stomachs and we had a really great time together!

2020 here we come!

Lots of soccer field time. We love cheering our boys on!

Thanks to Hope Kids, we were able to take Asher to see The Black Keys in one of their suites! It was a great night together!

Fun times at home!

Asher had a really great night at church with all of his Ignite buddies…and a couple of friends from school joined Asher and Carter! Giving these boys a ride home and listening to them laugh and joke had Jeremy and I in stitches!

Our neighborhood had a cute spring fling with activities for the kids and free food. Asher, Dad and I were cracking up that you wanted to jump on and take a pony ride! We’re pretty sure you’re always going to be young at heart :).

I just had to capture this…Asher taking care of his little brother while crossing a busy street. Gosh, we’re so thankful for these two.

Beck had an assignment at school to make a boat that could float and hold an apple. Here’s his boat with flags included :). It worked great!

Jeremy was the Master of Ceremonies at the CFF Wine Gala this year! 

Jeremy wrote a sweet note to honor this special day. We’ll never forget Sunday, November 17th 2019…

“It was a pretty amazing morning for our family. We are so proud of Asher and his tender heart. His love for God is evident and it was one of the greatest honors of my life as a father and a pastor to baptize him this morning.”

The moment we’ve been waiting for since we received Asher’s diagnosis. Trikafta!!! Jeremy beautifully explains our emotions…

“It’s been a whirlwind since this announcement was made public. The emotional overload that has come with this monumental moment should have been anticipated but it has still overwhelmed us. 12 years of fighting against this disease together has required a steel will and a highly developed sense of defensiveness. We have trained ourselves to be aggressive, to never back down, to battle at every turn, to speak out, to try to be realistic and to keep hope in front of us.

But in order to fight effectively, we also were conscious to keep hope at arms length. Too much hope can lead to unrealistic expectations and dashed dreams. We have been cautious to not let our hopes for a promised future keep us from fighting hard for our realistic today. It would be too costly to get distracted by dreams.

Thanksgiving with the Olimbs.

Asher got to take his first dose of Trikafta on Thanksgiving morning!!! What beautiful timing. Until today he hasn’t been feeling great because this med is literally changing how his entire body has operated for the last 12 years. We cannot adequately express the hope Trikafta ignites within us. We pray Beck will have the same opportunity soon too! Although the Cards bit the dust today, going to see the game with Hope Kids was a fun way to wrap up this very special Thanksgiving ❤️.